He's learning some really harsh truths

Charlie paced back and forth in his chamber, his mind racing. He had finally reached his limit. Too many secrets, too much deceit. Today, he would get the truth from Diana. He had to. For Kara, for their unborn child, for everyone affected by the chaos that had ensued since Luthor’s lab.

He left his chamber, striding purposefully towards Diana’s. His gut sinking with each step but his intentions were undeterred. The time for answers had come.

He knocked firmly on the door at Diana’s door. When she opened it, something told him she knew he was coming and was ready.

“Charlie,” she said, her voice mixed with concern. “How may I serve you?”

“We need to talk, Diana,” he said firmly.

Diana nodded. “Very well,” she said, stepping aside to let him in.

Charlie entered the room and noticed Starfire, Poison Ivy, and Kara. The queen was there too. Though it does not bode well that Diana would ask to serve him in front of her mother. Still, he hoped her presence would keep Diana honest.

“Your majesty, please excuse my bluntness with Diana.”

“By all means, Charlie. And you need not be so formal with me,” said Hippolyta.

“Yes…”

“Ma’am, as in ham, would suffice.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Everyone else, please. Stay.” He said.

Kara made an annoyed face. Kori was somewhere between guilt and pout. Pamela had a disturbingly horny look.

He knew they'd gang up on him, but if he kept a firm hand on all of them, they wouldn't have their stories straight. He would turn their testimony against each other if needed.

“Where is Karen?” Charlie asked.

“Away,” said Diana. “She had a mission, which I will tell you all about.”

“Fine,” he said taking a deep annoyed breath. “Diana, I need you to tell me everything from the beginning. What have you planned? What’s your end game?” he said, pausing dreadfully.

“What have you done?” he added finally.

“Luthor became aware of your talents, before we did,” said Diana.

“Yes, I’m well aware…”

“At the League, we had a discussion about what we should do with you, and what we should do with Powergirl…”

“Diana, stop stalling. I know what happened with Karen. Let's skip to the part after.”

“Okay, Charlie. When Wally kidnapped you, I panicked. I needed to get you out without alerting the League that anyone was… on your side beyond Kara and Karen.”

“So, you sent Poison Ivy.”

“So, I reluctantly sent Pamela.”

Pamela scoffed.

“When Pamela…" said Diana. "When we heard the whole conversation between you, the Bat Family, and… Wally. We panicked."

“You panicked?” he asked. “Okay, what did you do then.”

“Say, Charlie… Who do you think is the most dangerous member of the Justice League?” said Diana.

“I don’t know. Superman?”

“Superman had the strength, Charlie. But he stood for hope. If he wanted, he could take over the world. Conquer it. Rule it with an iron fist. But he stood for hope,” said Diana.

“He would never do that,” said Charlie.

“No, he wouldn’t. But there was one man on earth who prepared a contingency for that scenario. Hidden cache of weapons, vehicles, Kryptonite bombs. A piece of gold Kryptonite.”

“That man was the most dangerous member of the Justice League. If he prepared all that weapon against his best friend, he would never let you go Charlie. You are a bigger threat now than Clark could ever be,” said Diana.

“No…” said Charlie. “I would never be that threat, Diana… and I just…”

“It’s not you Charlie. It’s me, it’s us,” said Diana. “I was the deciding vote when we chose to let you into the room with Powergirl. And if Bruce…” said Diana, her voice breaking. “If Batgirl had to the chance to tell Batman that your power affects all metahumans…”

“What about it? He must've found out by now, Diana. The Bat Family found out, and we can't put the genie back in the bottle.”

But Diana was silent.

“He has found out, Diana. Hasn’t he?” said Charlie. “I bet he’s working on a cure for you now.”

“There is nothing to cure, Charlie,” said Kara. “If anything, those immunes are fucked up ones.”

“Yes, Love-Charlie. They don’t have an understanding. This is us as destiny meant us to be,” said Kori.

“Okay,” said Charlie cautiously. “Okay, I believe you. But let’s prove it.”

“Diana,” said Charlie. “I want you to get in touch with Batman. If he has a cure, he can come administer them himself. And if he doesn’t, we don’t have to tell him where we are, yet. Is that a fair compromise?”

“Charlie…” said Diana.

“For the record, I am okay with turning myself in. Even if he locks me up. I’m sure you can help me negotiate visitation right for Kara and for our child.”

“Charlie, please…”

“Diana, I made my decision and that’s final.”

“He was a good man and I loved him for it. But he would have lock you up somehow.

“With the technology he got from Victor and Nora, he could've frozen you indefinitely,” said Kara.

“He was a very trigger happy person, Charlie. Especially when it comes to a global threat. He wouldn’t have listened,” said Diana.

“Diana, how many times do I need to…”

“Charlie listen!” said Kara. “He was a good man, Charlie. Was.”

“Huh? What does she…” he said. “No, Diana, what did you do?”

“It was between you or him, Charlie. You or him. I promise you, I made sure he didn't suffer.”

“You did not. You could not. No one could have known,” he said. “I can’t believe…”

“I refuse to sit in my tent while the siege plays out and escalate. Each side maneuvering, gaining on the other. Each spiral worse than the last, until the only logical choice available to him is to neutralize you permanently,” said Diana.

“I was there, you know. At Troy, when brave Patroclus died for the inaction of his love…” said Hippolyta.

“Please, mother. Not one of your stories. Not, right now.”

“Well… at any rate, Themyscira can be your home, young man. We rarely get such upstanding gentleman with such strong moral character.”

Charlie looked at her suspiciously, then back at Diana.

“Batman doesn’t kill, Diana. Everyone knows that.”

“Yes, but he could’ve frozen you for a decade or three, Charlie,” said Pamela. “Or jail you for life.”

“You don’t know him,” said Diana. “Not like I do. He was a good man. He tries and tries to find ways around it, but eventually he will make the tough call. He will ambush us all before we even have a chance to respond.”

“If that’s the only way to keep the world safe, then that’s the only way to keep the world safe, Diana.”

“You don’t mean that, Charlie. You are our boy. We have to protect you,” she said gently touching his face. “You know nothing of hardship, and you know nothing of Arkham.”

She hung her head, tearing up visibly.

“Do you seriously think he’d put me in Arkham? That’s not even…” said Charlie exasperated. “You don’t get to decide for me, Diana. You don’t.”

“I would have consulted you, Charlie. But you were captured,” said Diana, her voice shaking.

“I see. Just like how you consulted me about taking over this island?”

“What?”

“Go on, tell me I’m wrong. Your own home, Diana. You own mother.”

“I…”

“You never meant to ask me. I’m not the brightest star in the sky, Diana. But I learn. Eventually I learn. That’s why we are having this conversation, and that’s why you are going to tell me what other plans do you have in motion.”

“So, tell me, Diana. What else is going on?”

He’d gotten her on the back foot and now he had to make her confess. He had to take control before it is too late. Or is it?

There were three knocks on the door and in came Karen Starr. Behind her walked a tall lady in red hair and a coronet on her head. It was the same lady she was jumping into the sea

“Charlie.”

“Karen,” said Charlie. “Where have you been?”

“Charlie, this is Mera,” said Diana regaining her composure. “Mera is Queen of the Atlantians.”

Mera went down on one knee in front of Charlie. She kissed his hands, and he could see her nostril flaring as she brought his hand to her lips.

“Charlie,” said Mera. In that single utterance, much was clear though left unspoken.

“Diana, you did not,” said Charlie, trembling. This felt like a joke gone so far beyond the point of entertainment.

“Themyscira and Atlantis each have the power to conquer the entire world of man, Charlie. But, left unchecked, one could foil the other.”

“She is Aquaman’s wife,” said Charlie harshly.

Mera recoiled at his words. “If I am not yours, then I am no man’s wife, Charlie. Much less that beast,” she spat. “What kind of beast devoured his own son?”

Her voice was full of hurt and grief, but there was a kind of vicious fanaticism behind it that Charlie has come to recognize all too well. Charlie recoiled from her.

“No, no, no. This is not... It is not right, Diana.”

“And what would be right, Charlie? That Themyscira go to war with Atlantis and lay waste to the entire world?” said Diana.

“Diana’s right, Charlie” said Karen quietly. “To go back we must go forward. To defend, we must attack. To hide, we must multiply.”

“Only when we can overwhelm, can we **** a surrender and avoid bloodshed,” said Diana, her voice shaking. “It is the best I could've done. I had ****, Charlie. Whatever it takes, they will not have you.”

There was that viciousness in her voice again. Just like Mera's.

“Like you avoided bloodshed with Batman?” said Charlie, responding to her rancor. “With Bruce? With Wally? With M’Gann?”

Diana collapse on her knees. She cried as she never did since she last held Steve Trevor in her arms. She wanted Charlie to comfort her, but she knew he wouldn’t. She recoiled away from him at once loving and fearing him. Fearing a man, as an amazon shouldn’t, but fearing his words nonetheless. Stick and stone will never hurt her bones, but his words can wound her deep in the soul.

“I… I had ****, Charlie,” she said.

_You always had a choice, Diana. _Charlie thought, but guilt stayed his tongue.

“Charlie,” said Kara tenderly, floating towards him. “Diana didn’t have a choice. She had a lot of tough call to make, and she chose you.”

“Charlie, please, I really can’t stay long,” said Karen. “We’ve pulled off the coup in Atlantis. Cetea and Tula are consolidating our position as we speak but they are severely under equipped down there. We need to secure more supplies from Themyscira.”

Hippolyta gave her a silent nod, but otherwise remained gracefully in the background

“Consolidate our what? Does anyone in this room even hear themselves speaking?” said Charlie exasperated. He threw a flower pot on the ground and punched the wall. Then recoiled in pain. For a room full of women who could have smashed that wall to bits, no one laughed at his plight.

“Charlie, it’s done,” said Karen her voice shaking. “Whether we make the most of it or it, the coup happened. But if the situation slip, well... there is nothing more bloody than a power vacuum.”

She too was trying to keep her composure and not breakdown at her master’s displeasure. Killing her master’s enemy might be her new favorite past time, but enduring his direct reprimand made want to crawl into the ground and die. She felt like the little girl she’d never been since Krypton was destroy. That is, if little girls could be this horny hoping her daddy would spank her.

“Babe,” said Kara seriously. “No one has ever brought the League down this low. Not Trigon, not Brainiac, not even Darkseid. And they won’t think it’s us. They’ll think it’s you. This is now an existential conflict.” Kara touched her belly.

“A half-Kryptonian with your power, Charlie,” said Diana.

“There is only one happy ending to this,” said Kara.

“One has to make a choice, Charlie. Or choice will be **** upon you. I know I have made mine,” said Mera.

As if on cue, a chorus of salpinx rang through the din. The city was under attack. War has come to Themyscira.

The door burst open. Mala the amazon came rushing. “It's the League,” she said. “They're here. All of them.”

“Muster the ranks,” said Hippolyta from the back of the room. “We fight to the last woman.”

“I suppose it is their last opportunity for victory,” said Diana quietly, wiping her tears and putting on her war face.